2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings & ProjectionsStarting Pitcher #28

Francisco Liriano went 12-7 in 31 starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year. It was his third season in Pittsburgh after signing with the club back in December, 2012. He posted a 3.38 ERA for the second consecutive season and had a 1.21 WHIP, his lowest WHIP in the last eight years. Francisco was also able to post his second career 200 strikeout season tallying 205 whiffs in just 186.2 innings. He was once again among the league leaders in terms of the use of his slider. The Dominican South Paw used his slider 32.7% of the time last year, the key reason he was among the league leaders in swings and misses. Liriano was one of just five qualified Starting Pitchers that posted a swinging strike rate of at least 14% last year. Francisco posted a 14.3% swinging strike rate; the other four to do so were Clayton Kershaw (15.9%), Max Scherzer (15.3%), Chris Sale (14.6%) and Carlos Carrasco (14.0%). The 32 year old has two years remaining on his current contract with the Pirates and is a nice Fantasy Starter to pick up in the middle rounds of your drafts.